Antifriction device



March 26, 1935'. s. A, WOOD 1,995,728

ANTIFRICTION DEVICE Filed Dec. 2, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR 5a m u JAM 0c BY QJ March 26, 1935. 5, A, WOOD 1,995,728

ANTIFRICTION DEVICE Filed 15%. 2, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 (fig 5;

' INVENTOR j' SamuzIAWMJ- Patented Mar. 26, 1935 PATIENT OFFICE ANTIFRICTION DEVICE smile Aldrich Wood, Brooklyn, N; Y., assignor to'Oxford Filing Supply (70., Brooklyn, N. Y.,

-apartnership comprising Richard A. Jonas,

' Richard A. Jonas, Jr.,

Robert P. Jonas, Frank D. Jonas,'a'nd Edward FLJonas ApplicationrDecember 2, 1933, Serial No. 700,654

7 Claims.

This invent ion relates to a device for use in connection with filing cabinets and the like which are constructed of flexible material such as fibre, cardboard, corrugated board, laminated card board and the like.

Airob-jectof this invention is to provide a simple, effective and inexpensive anti-friction device which may be'interposed between the bottom of the cabinet and the bottom of the drawer to facilitate movement of the; drawer, and to reduce wear on the contacting. parts.

These and'manyother objects as will appear from the; following disclosure are secured by means of this invention. I p

Thisinvention resides substantially in the application; combination, construction, arrange ment and relative location of parts, all as will be setforth in full detail below.

Referringtoqthe drawings, Fig. Lisa top plan view of th device of; this invention;

-Fig. 2isa front edge view thereof; V i :Fig. 3 is a sideoelevational view of a filing cabinet to which the anti-friction device has been applied .with a portion of thecabinet broken awayp' p i :Eig. 41s. atop plan .viewof 1a portion of a modifiedJform1ofanti-frictiondevice; and

Fig.5 is aside elevational view of the modification. 1 l I It is now common practice to construct filing cases or cabinets and the like; in which correspondence and other materials which are not frequently usedgmay be stored, of a pliable inexpensive.;material suchzas. cardboard, laminated cardboard, corrugated cardboard and the like. These filing cases are usually in the form of containers open atathe front end into which a drawer may be'inserted. It is-quite obvious that as the'drawer is moved back and forth through the opening of the containerthe bottom of the drawenhas sliding contact with theinsideface of the'bottom of the container. Whenthe drawer is heavily loaded the contacting surfaces-have a tendency to abrade and wear, which is of course highly undesirable. -In addition the frictional resistance between the surfaces on movement of the drawer, especially when loaded, makes it necessary to apply-considerable force to move the drawer. Th'es'e forces alsotend to weaken the drawer at theipoint where they are transmitted thereto through" the handle; Since these filing cases are Widely used primarily because of their inexpensiveness, it is essential that any effective antifriction anti-friction device be simple and inexpensive, as is. the subject device.

The present invention involvesan anti-friction device which may be placed on the inside of the bottomof the container and upon which the drawer may move to transform the sliding contact between the surfaces into a rolling contact. This immediately reduces the resistance to movement of the drawer, and reduces the wear onthe; surfaces. As shown in the drawings, the device comprises a carrier 1, which may of course assume many forms. In the form illustrated in the drawings it comprises a sheet of cardboardor corrugated board of the same type of which the container and'drawer are constructed. As shown in the drawings, the carrier may consist of a solid sheetof material of a width to permit of its insertion through the open end of the container. When the carrier is made of corrugated board, it is preferable that the corrugations extend longitudinallyof the length of the carrier as is clear from Fig. 2. A plurality of transverse openings are cut in thecarrier as indicated at 2, depending'upon the number of rollers 3 which are to be mounted in the carrier. These roilers may be made of any suitable material, but in the interest of economy they are preferably made of wood. They are turned to have small extensions or lugs 4 on the ends thereof. It should of course be apparent that instead of forming the extensions 4 integral with the rollers they may be made separate therefrom and inserted or attached in any suitable way. They may, for example, be made of wire or short metal rods. One end of each opening 2 is slit asindicated at 5. In the case of corrugated board this slit merely cuts through the upper layerl' of the carrier. The rollers are then mounted by inserting the right hand extension between the upper and lower layers of the corrugated board and the left hand extensions are then inserted by merely pressing them down through the slits 5 in the upper layer 1'. Here again it is obvious that the rollers may be retained in the carrier in any one of a number. of obvious ways. The manner in which they are held. will somewhat depend upon the material of which the carrier is made. The only requisite isgthat the rollers should be freely rotatable in the carrier.

In one form of the invention the device as described is complete. In other words, if the carrier'is made of sufiicient length it need consist of no other parts.

Referring to Fig. 3 the container is shown open at the front end and closed on all other sides.

It is illustrated as constructed of corrugated cardboard built up in accordance with well known practice. The drawer 11, preferably made of the same material, may assume any suitable form and is provided at 12 with a handle for moving it. The anti-friction device is placed on the upper surface of the bottom of the container with its front edge flush with the front edge of the container. The drawer is then inserted enough so that its rear still rests on the front roller. The drawer is then pushed into the position shown in Fig. 3. As the drawer moves into the container the anti-friction device moves towards the rear of the container rolling over the surfaces with which it contacts. This practically pure rolling action of the rollers under load Inaterially reduces resistance to movement and wear on the contacting surfaces.

With regard to the longitudinal length of the carrier, it may be given such a length that Just before the drawer is fully in place the carrier will strike the rear end of the container and for the final movement the drawer will slide over the tops of the rollers. This is necessary to insure that the carrier in moving forward and backward when the drawer is moved, will always return to the same points. Namely that where its forward edge is flush with the forward edge of the container. If the longitudinal length of the carrier is not such that it strikes the rear end of the container just as the drawer is fully in, it will gradually become displaced, and gradually work out of the container.

With regard to Fig. 3, it is pointed out that the bottom of the drawer is not deformed quite in the manner illustrated in the figure. It would take this form if the bottom of the container rested on a rigid surface and the bottom of the drawer were rigid. In use, however, these containers are piled one on top of the other, so that the bottoms of the containers may give. Likewise, the bottom of the drawer gives with the result that the rollers of the carrier are in effect embedded in the yielding bottom of the container and drawer. This feature is hard to illustrate in the drawings, and is not important. The characteristic to be noted is that the yielding parts in effect envelope the rollers and carriers.

As illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the carrier may be made longer than the case previously described, and provided with a stop mechanism in the form of a tape. Thus, as shown in Fig. 1, an opening is cut in the carrier as in 6, and the end '7 of a piece of fabric, tape or the like is passed through the opening and glued to the end surface of the carrier. The other end of the tape passes up over the rear end of the drawer and 'is glued to the inside of the back wall, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The length of the tape is proportioned so that the carrier and drawer may 'move unrestricted by the tape to the front edge, but upon returning the drawer the tape will insure that the cage is positioned properly at the rear for the next attempt so that it cannot, under any circumstances, work out of the case. This allows use of a longer cage than would be feasible without this stop.

Figs. 4 and 5 show another form of stop device in which a portion 1 of the carrier is bent up at right angles to the main body portion and held in that position by means of gummed tape, as illustrated at 20. Thus when the drawer moves back to engage the upturned portion 1 it registers the carrier in its proper position at the rear of the case.

It is also apparent that the diameter of the rollers must be proportioned so that the desired positioning of the carrier will result. It will be apparent, upon consideration, that if the parts are not properly proportioned the carrier will gradually work out of place upon repeated movementof the drawer. Likewise, if not properly proportioned it will not be effective throughout the normal movement of the drawer.

It is to be understood that other forms of stop devices or movement limiting devices may be employed in the form of cooperating stops on the cabinet and the carrier. Any structure which acts to prevent the carrier from becoming displaced or from working out of the front of the case is within the scope of this invention. The stop devices really act to eliminate any accumulation of displacement occurring on each full movement of the drawer.

I do not, therefore, desire to be strictly limited to the disclosure as given for purposes of illustration, but rather to the scope of the appended claims.

What I seek to secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

l. A device as described comprising a flat carrier constructed of cardboard and a plurality of long rollers rotatably mounted in the carrier so as to project beyond the top and bottom surfaces thereof, said carrier serving solely to hold the rollers in spaced relation.

2. A device as described comprising a sheet of corrugated cardboard having a plurality of openings therein, and a relatively long roller in each opening so as to project above and below the sheet, said sheet acting as a spacer for the rollers.

3. A device as described comprising a composite cardboard sheet made up of top and bottom layers with a corrugated layer interposed therebetween, said sheet having a plurality of openings, and a slit at one end of each opening formed by cutting the top layer, and a roller in each opening having extensions lying between the top and bottom layers.

4. A combination as described comprising a flexible container, a flexible drawer mounted therein, and an anti-friction device interposed between the bottoms of the container and drawer comprising a fiat sheet having a plurality of rollers therein and contacting with the bottom of the container and drawer.

5. A combination comprising a flexible container, a flexible slidable drawer for the container, and a rolling support for the drawer within the container comprising a carrier having a plurality of long rollers mounted in openings therein so as to contact the bottom of the drawer and the inside bottom wall of the container.

6. A combination comprising a flexible container, a flexible slidable drawer for the container, a rolling support for the drawer within the container comprising a carrier having a plurality of long rollers mounted in openings therein so as to contact the bottom of the drawer and the inside bottom wall of the container, and means for returning the carrier to the same position when the drawer is fully within the container.

7. An anti-friction device comprising a completely flat member and a plurality of long rollers loosely and freely mounted therein and held in spaced relation so as to project above and below the top and bottom of said fiat member.

SAMUEL ALDRICH WOOD. 

